


You’re Never Alone

by Superhero_Obsessed21



Series: Young West-Allen [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen & Iris West Friendship, Best Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Sad Barry Allen, Sad with a Happy Ending, Teenagers, West-Allen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22192822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superhero_Obsessed21/pseuds/Superhero_Obsessed21
Summary: Barry and Iris are 17. Barry’s had a rough few weeks. It’s around the time his mother was murdered. Iris convinced him to sneak out to a party with her. Barry gets drunk and Iris makes sure he stays safe until Joe arrives.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Series: Young West-Allen [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1598134
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	You’re Never Alone

**Author's Note:**

> No smut in this one guys.  
> The future West-Allen’s as teenagers.

This time of the year, the anniversary of his mother’s murder had always been rough for Barry. Even when things were going perfectly in his life, he never handled it well. 

This month had already been hard for him. He just recently broke up with his first real girlfriend, he got his first B ever on a French test, and he had just recovered from step throat. 

Today at school both Barry and Iris had been invited to a classmates party. The friends mother was away and his father didn’t live with him. His father actually didn’t even live in Central City. There was pretty much no chance that there would be any form of adult supervision at the party. They both knew that Joe would never agree to letting them go to a party like that. 

Normally they wouldn’t have even considered accepting the invitation, but with the way Barry had felt lately, Iris wanted to make him feel better, so she was currently trying to convince him to go. 

Right now iris was thinking of lies to tell her dad so that he would let them go.

Barry had been in his room doing homework since they got home from school so she headed up to his room so she could fill him in on her plan. 

“Barry?”, Iris knocked on his door.

“Come in.”

Barry was sitting at his desk clearly still working on homework. 

“What ya doin?”, she asked

“French homework”, he answered sounding frustrated. 

“Let’s go to the party tonight.”, she said quickly. 

“What Iris?”

“The party at Jay’s house. Let’s go.”

“Have you been drinking?”, Barry asked Sarcastically.

“No.”, she said taken aback. “But I want to.”

That got his attention. He couldn’t believe she had just said that. Neither of them were into that kind of thing, especially Iris.

“First of all, Joe will never let us go to that party. And second... “really Iris?”

“I’m 17 Barry.” “I’m old enough to try alcohol.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. “No  
Your not Iris.”

“Look Barr, we both need this.” “I’ll take care of dad.”

“That I’d like to see.”

“So if I can get dad to say yes you’ll go with me?”

“If you can get Joe to say yes, than yes I’ll go Iris.”

“Ok.”, Iris said turning toward the door.  
“You should probably start picking something out to wear.”

Barry couldn’t help but smile at her confidence and determination when she left the room.

As luck would have it, Joe had to work late, so when he called to tell them, Iris talked fast.  
She used a name of a friend he was familiar with. She figured if he knew the friends parents were ok with their child going to this party, that the party should be ok for them to go, and it worked. He didn’t even ask about parental supervision.

She was either really good or Joe was just too distracted by other things happening around him. Whichever one it was didn’t matter, because they were going, and she was going to try alcohol for the first time tonight.

Barry didn’t believe it! He almost sounded disappointed when Iris told him the good news. “What’s the matter?”, Iris asked. “I did it.” “We can go to the party.”

“I’m just not really feeling like partying tonight Iris.”

“You promised you’d go.”

“I know, and I will. I just don’t feel so great right now.”

“Is your throat sore again?”

“No.” “It’s not that.” “It’s...

“You miss your mom today.”

He looked up at Iris. “I do.”, he said sadly. 

Iris moved next to him and started rubbing his back. “I know you you do Barr, but maybe going out tonight will help you feel a little bit better.”

“Maybe.”, he agreed. “Let’s eat dinner and get ready.”

They heated up a frozen pizza for dinner, took showers and got dressed. Barry had been in the living room waiting for Iris. He felt completely overwhelmed by his emotions today, and as much as he tried to bury those feelings he hadn’t succeeded. At the moment he was really close to breaking down, but when Iris stepped into the room in a gorgeous black strapless dress his sadness quickly took a backseat to how beautiful she was.

“You look beautiful Iris.”

“Thank you.”, she blushed. “You look nice too.”, she said taking a seat next to him on the couch. 

They had gotten really close over the years. They were like brother and sister. 

“Do you feel any better?”, Iris asked. 

“I’m ok.”, Barry lied not wanting to let those bad feelings reach the surface again right now. 

“Let’s go then.”, Iris said.  
Barry got up and followed Iris out the door. The house they were going to was only a block away so there was no reason to drive so they walked. 

Barry hadn’t said a word all the way there. When they got inside he took a seat in the living room with the other guys who were playing drinking games. 

Iris went into the kitchen where her friends were currently doing Jell-O shots. 

Despite all of Iris’s talk about drinking, she had decided after having only one shot that she had enough. She staid with the girls though. None of them were really drinking a lot anyway, and she was just enjoying being with her friends. 

Time went by fast. When Iris looked at the clock it was almost 11:30. She and Barry had to be home by midnight. She knew her dad would call them at 12:01. 

When she went into the living room to get Barry he wasn’t there. When she asked if anyone knew where he was they all chuckled. Luckily one of the boys was actually friendly with Barry at school, so when Iris left to check around the house, the boy followed her. 

“He’s pretty drunk.” “He’s in the back yard.”  
Iris was about to ask more questions but he quickly left her side after he spoke. So instead she headed outside to find Barry. It didn’t take her long to find him. He was wobbling around the yard beer in hand. 

“What’s going on Barr?”, Iris said as she approached him. 

“It was the man in yellow Iris. He killed my mother. My father didn’t do it.”

“I know Barr.” 

“But no one believes me.”, he swallowed the rest of his beer in one gulp, and then he threw the bottle across the yard.

“He killed my mother Iris!”

Iris was scared. This was not only her first experience with alcohol, but it was her first experience being with someone who had drank too much alcohol, and Barry was pretty close to hysterical at the moment. 

Iris took a deep breath, grabbed Barry gently by the arm and led him over to a loveseat swing in the corner of the yard. She was able to get him to sit down next to her. He was crying really hard. That’s when she saw the flashing blue lights at the front of the house. Her first instinct was to run, but she wasn’t going to leave Barry and there was no way he would be able to walk with her right now, so instead of running she worked on calming him down. She wiped his tears gently with her fingers and then she rubbed his cheek.  
“It’s ok Barr. It’s going to be ok.”

“I miss my mother Iris.”, more tears escaping his eyes.  
“I know you do Barry.”, she said embracing him in a hug. She gently rubbed his back and he slowly started to calm down. The noise at the front of the house seemed to be miles away now. All she heard was Barry’s soft cries and sniffles. He was all that mattered right now. 

That’s how Joe found them. Iris didn’t know how long he had been standing there, but by the look on his face he had heard the conversation, and he wasn’t screaming at them, which she knew would come eventually, but right now taking care of Barry was the number one priority.

“Let’s get him to the car Iris.” Barry had calmed down a good bit now. “I miss my mom Joe.”, was the first thing he said to Joe when he noticed he was there. Joe ran his hand through his sweaty hair. “I know you do son.”

As soon as they got Barry seat-belted in the back seat he started to gag. Luckily police cars were equipped for this type of situation. Joe quickly handed Iris a small bucket. She moved close to Barry and held it at his chin just in time. He vomited all the way home. 

When they pulled in the driveway they had to wait a few minutes for Barry to finish. Once he stopped they helped him out of the car. 

As Joe put his key in the door more of the alcohol Barry had consumed started to make its way back up from his stomach. Luckily he was a little more coherent now, and as soon as Joe opened the door he sprinted to the bathroom. 

Joe and Iris both followed him.  
When they got to the bathroom door Joe looked back at Iris.

“I think you should go upstairs Iris.” “I’ll make sure he’s ok.”  
She was visibly shaken now, tears escaping her eyes. 

She shook her head in acknowledgment.  
“I’m really sorry dad!”

“I know you are.” “We’ll talk more later.”  
Joe kissed her on the head.  
As soon as Iris left he knocked on the bathroom door. He could hear that Barry was still emptying his stomach. 

“I’m coming in son.”

Joe staid close to Barry for the next hour. He only vomited two more times thankfully, after which his stomach felt much better.  
Once Barry had cleaned up and changed, Joe helped him into bed. He didn’t lecture him, he wasn’t angry, all he showed Barry right now was love and care. He wet a cloth for his head and he sat next to him, by the bed, gently moving his hand through his hair until he fell asleep. 

When Joe looked in on Iris she appeared to be asleep, but as he started to close the door she sat up.  
“Is Barry ok?”  
“He will be.”, Joe answered. 

“It’s my fault dad.” “I knew he wasn’t himself tonight. I knew he was struggling with his emotions, and I still convinced him to go with me.” “I’m a terrible friend.”

“Iris, what you both did tonight was irresponsible, and you are both going to be grounded for a long time, but what I saw tonight, the way you stayed with Barry. The way you calmed him down and made sure he was ok.... you are not a terrible friend Iris.” 

“Barry’s had a tough time with his mother’s murder, and no matter how old he gets we have to stay aware of that. The three of us will talk more tomorrow. I promise. Now get some sleep.”

“I love you dad.” “I love you too baby.”

Iris did her best to sleep. She knew Joe was right, but she still felt Barry getting so drunk and sick was her fault. It was 3am, if there was any chance of her getting some sleep, she had to make sure Barry was ok. 

When she peaked in Barry’s room he looked up at the door. 

“You’re awake.”  
“Yeah.”, he moaned. 

“You look terrible.”, she said talking a seat next to him on the bed.  
“Thanks.”, he said sarcastically.

She started to cry. “I’m so sorry Barry.” 

“It’s not your fault Iris.”

“It is.”, “you were hurting and I ignored it selfishly.”

“It’s ok Iris.” “Please don’t cry.”

They embraced in a hug. Once they broke the hug Iris laid her head on his pillow and started rubbing his chest. He closed his eyes.  
“Does this feel ok?”  
“Yes.”

Iris, as gently as possible, brought up his mother. They spent the rest of the night talking. By morning Barry felt much better emotionally.  
Physically he was hung over and felt really sick, but he figured he deserved it for being so stupid. 

When Joe walked in Barry’s room around 7, Barry was sleeping on his stomach and Iris was asleep on the floor beside him inside one of Barry’s sleeping bags. 

Joe was angry with both of them for being so irresponsible last night, but in this moment all he felt was compassion and love for both of them. So instead of waking them, he went downstairs and started his day. 

They would both be punished for a month, and there was a lot of talking to do, but for now he was thankful that his kids were home safe and that they had each other. Being a teenager was hard, but having a best friend to help you through the tough times made it a little bit easier. Joe knew that they had a special relationship. Watching Iris with Barry last night had reiterated just how special that relationship really was.


End file.
